Ken Loach: ‘I am not retiring’Director Ken Loach says he has no intention of retiring from making fictional films after appearing to suggest earlier this year that Jimmy’s Hall would be his last.Express

Tess Gerritsen, the best-selling author behind the Rizzoli and Isles series, has filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. The writer claims that Alfonso Cuarón’s script for the space blockbuster is partially based on her 1999 novel of the same name.TIME

Jeffrey Katzenberg, the outspoken CEO of Dreamworks Animation, has come up with a revolutionary new way to charge for movies: by the size of screen you’re watching on. The theory is that you’d pay less to watch a film on a tablet screen than you would on your home TV.Tech Radar

Screen Australia, the organisation responsible for a significant number of Australian films, could lose half its funding, according to the Commission of Audit. The industry body could also be merged with the Australia Council, the country’s main arts funding organisation.The Guardian

With ‘Sholay 3D’ as its opening selection, the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) was launched here today by Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the presence of Victorian minister for Tourism and major events Louise Asher and the festival director Mitu Bhowmick Lange.Indian Express

The Seattle International Film Festival said it will honor Academy Award-nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor and actress, producer and director Laura Dern with Tribute awards for Outstanding Achievement in Acting at the 40th annual festival, which begins next month.Pudget Sound Business Journal

Rumours abound that the three potential lead actors (Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher) for Star Wars Episode VII are already in the UK and preparing to shoot their scenes, and some reports claim that some of the actors have already started.Metro

Eighty years after Nazi propaganda films were made and given to Hitler as a gift, they are again being screened in Berlin. The audience must attend a lecture and a debate before the screening - a move that some say is patronising.BBC News

That Philippe Petite biopic that Robert Zemeckis has been getting together for Joseph Gordon-Levitt has just added a few more cast members, including Sir Ben Kingsley and James Badge Dale in as-yet-unknown roles.Ain’t It Cool

Award-winning south Indian film director Shyamaprasad, who has excelled simultaneously in Indian and international cinema, is planning to make an Indian movie that will be fully shot in Oman.Times of Oman

After successful showings at the Tribeca, Omaha, and Vail film festivals, Fool’s Day, by Cody Blue Snider, was the audience’s favorite short film and won the audience choice award for best short entry at the Cleveland International Film Festival.Examiner

Director Sally Potter has received this year’s Bradford International Film Award Fellowship. Over the past 30 years, her films have moved between various facets of culture, exploring dance, music, history, gender and performance.Telegraph and Argus

The footage — a little more than 19 minutes — covers the entire process of the cotton cloth making process from bales to the final fabric. The Adams Historical Society holds the film and has had it digitized.The Berkshire Eagle

Oscar-winning British cinematographer Oswald Morris, who worked with some of the great directors, including John Huston and Stanley Kubrick, has died at the age of 98, at his home in Dorset.Western Morning News

The highly anticipated next installment of the “Star Wars” franchise will be set 30 years after “Episode VI: Return of the Jedi,” Walt Disney Co.’s chief executive officer Bob Iger said on Tuesday at the company’s annual shareholders meeting.Reuters

She is negotiating to helm a live-action adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy tale “The Little Mermaid,” the story of a sea creature chafing against her life of looking lovely and swimming aimlessly about.The Los Angeles Times

The 14th Annual New York Indian Film Festival will put the spotlight on British filmmaker Gurinder Chadha to celebrate the 20th year anniversary of her acclaimed film ‘Bhaji on the beach’.Hindustan Times

Amy Pascal revealed last month that a new film set in the Spider-Man universe is planned every year from here on in, with supervillains such as the Sinister Six and antihero Venom set to take centre-stage.The Guardian

Following on from the success of films like The Hangover and Bridesmaids, the new Irish comedy is about a group of friends who are reluctantly forced to go on a stag party against their will, and end up rediscovering their friendship.Yahoo! Movies

The Tribeca Film Festival has announced that a documentary short about Muslims-Jew relations produced by Chelsea Clinton will hold its world premiere during the festival at the end of April.The Huffington Post

Studio executives tested an alternate version of Darren Aronofsky’s forthcoming biblical epic Noah that opened with a montage of religious images and ended with a Christian rock song, it has been revealed.The Guardian

Beijing-based film production company Huayi Brothers Media Corp. plans to invest up to $150 million in a new movie company from Jeff Robinov, the former president of Warner Bros. Pictures Group.LA Times

The Delhi High Court ruled that the movie not be released anywhere in India in its censored or uncensored form till May 8. Gulaab Gang was meant to on March 7. The film is about a group of women fighting social injustices in a rural village community.NDTV

Hosted by President Obama, the festival will showcase student-created films about how technology is used in their classrooms and what role technology will play in education in the future.Los Angeles Times

Dr. Bernhard Friz joined forces with Coleen Rajotte, director of the Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival, to create Storytellers — The Pas’ First Film Festival of Aboriginal and Northern Peoples.CBC News Manitoba

It was a coup by independent filmmakers at the Thai film industry’s awards night on Sunday when almost all major prizes went to talents working in the margin, leaving the mainstream heavyweights with just a few consolation trophies.Bangkok Post

One of the world’s most significant gay film festivals is getting a makeover after 26 years, changing its name to reflect the “increasing diversity of the programme and the people who identify with and embrace it”.The Independent

The short, entitled Future News was directed by David Yates. Celebrities in the UK worked together on a short film released today in support of the financial transaction tax. The three minute film is designed to influence negotiations.Forbes

The first glimpse of Angelina Jolie’s new directing project, Unbroken, has surfaced online, taking advantage of the interest in the winter Olympics by highlighting the athletic achievements of its real-life subject.The Sydney Morning Herald

Scripted by noted writer and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award winner C. V. Balakrishnan and directed by Madhu Kaithapuram, winner of India’s National Film Award, the title of the movie is Velli VechathiTimes of Oman

After Wolf of Wall Street, the Kenya Film commission has outlawed a number of films. These are films that are related to the late Sheikh Aboud Rogo contentious Muslim cleric .Anyone found with these movies might spend sometime in the can.Ghafla

In her 110 years, Alice Herz-Sommer has been an accomplished concert pianist and teacher, a wife and mother — and a prisoner in Theresienstadt. Now she is the star of an Oscar-nominated documentary showing her indomitable optimism, cheerfulness and vitality despite all the upheavals and horrors she faced in the 20th century.Jewish Press

Greg Fleet is to star in a low-budget Australian zombie film. Me And My Mates vs The Zombie Apocalypse wrapped filming on Friday in the Australian capital, Canberra, and is now in post-production.The Canberra Times

Oscar-winner Natalie Portman has been accused of mounting a “foreign invasion” by protesters from Israel’s ultra-orthodox community after arriving in Jerusalem to shoot her directorial debut, reports the Times of Israel.The Guardian

A special screening of documentary film titled ‘Gulabi Gang’, directed by Nishtha Jain, will be held for many producers and directors in Mumbai such as Raj Kumar Hirani, Gauri Shinde, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Prasoon Joshi.The Indian Express

Hosted at a foreign embassy in Riyadh on a warm night in early June, the premiere was an understated affair. Local media was not invited to the screening due to fears that early reviews could cause a backlash against the film.Wall Street Journal

While The Wolf of Wall Street is setting records for the outrageous number of ‘F’ bombs it employs, another Best Picture contender has broken a different kind of record. 12 Years A Slave became the first film with nudity approved to distribute in India.Bustle

The film, a fly-on-the-wall look at prescription-drug abuse, focuses on Fred Holmes, a retired pediatrician who willed himself into becoming an expert in treating opiate addiction after discovering many of his teenaged patients were hooked on painkillers.The Globe and Mail

The British film industry paid tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman at the London Critics’ Circle awards last night, with Steve Coogan and Naomie Harris among the stars lining up to celebrate the work of the late Oscar winner.The Guardian

Leading Brazilian film director Eduardo Coutinho was killed Sunday in an attack at his Rio de Janeiro home, local television reported. Initial reports suggested that the 80-year-old Coutinho’s son Daniel, who suffers from mental illness, stabbed his father to death.The Nation

In a first in Bollywood, actor Abhay Deol, 37, and the co-producers of his next film have decided to release their entire film on the social media site, Facebook (on the same day as its India release) However, there’s a catch- only international audiences will get to view the film.Hindustan Times

S.S. Rajamouli’s upcoming film, Baahubali, becomes the highest spender of VFX in Indian cinema, as he will be spending over Rs. 85 crores for the VFX in the film. Also, since Baahubali is a period action drama, it boasts of a never-before-heard budget to create a visual extravaganza.Bollywood Hungama

New virtual reality headset that straps over user’s face will not only allow viewers to watch films anywhere but also allow 3D interaction with movies. The first headsets were premiered for filmmakers at Sundance.Wired

Luhrman’s The Great Gatsby won every award for which it was nominated at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts luncheon in Sydney, including production design, costuming and cinematography.SBS

“The film doesn’t really have a plot,” Joel Coen said of Inside Llewyn Davis. “That concerned us at one point; that’s why we threw the cat in.” Coen and his brother Ethan have learnt one of the truisms of the seventh art - that there are few films that are not improved by the presence of a cat.The Telegraph

The star has shouldered the blame for his latest flick’s poor box office performance saying that he was happy with the product but that it was clearly the hero’s fault if audiences did not flock to theatres.India Today

The District 9 is rumoured to be joining Microsofts upcoming series which will be produced by Stephen Spielberg. Blomkamp had previously said he would never work on Halo again after the first attempt fell through.Scified

Fans of big budget soft core pornography are to be disappointed by the 50 Shades of Grey movie, which producer Michael De Luca has confirmed will ‘obviously’ be less explicit than the book.The Independent

Thousands of fans, actors, directors, producers and others from all walks of life thronged the Annapurna Studios where the body of thespian Akkineni Nageswara Rao was kept to enable people to pay homage.DNA

American cinema chain AMC has branded Google Glass use inappropriate for cinema goers. The audience member was taken out of a screening of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit by Homeland Security and questioned for 3.5 hours.International Business Times

Anger is building on the Chinese mainland after the little-known events of the 1965-66 Indonesian anti-communist purge were revealed by the doc. Despite no plans for official release the film has been seen by thousands of bloggers and even state mouthpiece People’s Daily ran a report on it.South China Morning Post

Russian social network VKontacte is now offering users the opportunity to stream licensed films. In the second half of 2013 the site launched a major effort to legalize its emdia content after a series of scandals.Russia Behind the Headlines

The founders of the new fund have raised millions of dollars to produces film and television they say will work as soft diplomacy. Anupam Sharma, the fund’s overseer, hopes to replicate the appeal of India-centric stories from other countries, like Bend It Like Beckham.SBS

Abigail Disney, grandniece of Walt, has backed up Meryl Streep following the actor’s recent comments about Walt Disney where she referred to him as a “gender bigot” and a member of an anti-Semitic lobbying organisation.The Guardian

The 15th International Indian Film Academy Awards, the Oscars of Bollywood’s yearly $7.8 billion industry, will be presented in the United States for the first time this year, organizers of the event said on Wednesday.Stabroek News

The Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) had ordered that the movie Wolf of Wall Street should not be sold, exhibited or distributed in Kenya. KFCB is the body that has been tasked with film content regulation to ensure they conform to the national values.Standard Digital

Russia’s culture minister Vladimir Medinsky is considering introducing a cap on the number of movies imported to the country each year, saying that “without it, it is impossible to help the Russian film sector.”The Guardian

After analysing 25 years’ worth of data on mainstream cinema, two researchers have discovered that filmmakers that are likely to appeal to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences face the same risk-and-reward structure as lobbyists who contribute to political candidates as elections are near.Zee News

Richard Shepherd, the producer of classic Hollywood movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, has died aged 86 at his home in Los Angeles. Shepherd spent six decades in the film business, producing a run of films including the 1961 feature starring Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard.BBC News

During a break from filming new movie “Cold Comes the Night”, Bryan Cranston put together a contest challenging production assistants to come up with their own scripts. The actor then offered to star in a script of his choosing if there was one he liked.The Huffington Post

The actress is set to star in Drake Doremus’ adaptation of 1984, written by Nathan Parker (Moon). In a recent interview she said that though the story was simple, the film was “overtly ambitious”.Huffington Post

Vimeo has made 13 films, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, available on its on-demand platform. Viewers can purchase the films directly from the site and watch on desktop, TV or smartphone.The Drum

A report by Film L.A. which processes film permits in LA City and County, has blamed a lack of financial incentives for productions increasingly moving to other states. The decline is also blamed for the loss of 4,500 permanent jobs.South California Public Radio

Filmgoers in the United Arab Emirates have been shown a heavily edited version of The Wolf of Wall Street, which left the story “incomprehensible.” Around 45 minutes of Scorcese’s film was removed - predominantly scenes depicting sex and drug-taking- and dialogue was muted to mask profanity.BBC News

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) will launch a crackdown on sexual content and bad language in films, particularly in movies rated 12A, 12 and 15. The BBFC says will give greater weight to the “theme and tone” rather than simply specific scenes and details on screen.The Telegraph

Johnny Depp took a meeting with Marvel to discuss playing Doctor Strange in a Phase Three film likely to be released in 2016. If Depp did decide to play the role, it would impact what’s happening in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, which currently has a fifth installment set for release in roughly the same time frame. The Latino Review

A short film made by a local university lecturer and shot on location in and around Falmouth has been nominated for a Bafta. Created on a budget of just £1000 and shot over three days, the film crew featured photography and animation lecturers as well as students.The Cornishman

The Snowtown director plans to use the Hankley Common dropping zone to film his new film with Michael Fassbender. The WW2 training site has already been used in numerous Bond films, including Die Another Day and Skyfall.Getsurrey.co.uk

Jake Gyllenhaal and Josh Brolin have arrived in Nepal to start filming an adaptation of climbing-Everest bestseller Into Thin Air. Baltasar Kormakur, director of Two Guns, is helming the project.Financial Express

The Oscar-winning star of Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind will attend this Years Jameson Dublin International Film Festival in February. Terry Gilliam will also attend and both men will receive Volta Awards for lifetime achievements.Irish Times

Wells Cathedral in Bath has been attacked for its decision to allow the Bath Film festival to screen The Last Temptation of Christ in its nave. The screening was to accompany a recent screening of The Passion of Joan of Arc in Bath Abbey.Bath Chronicle

The International Festival of Sports Movies Krasnogorski will take place from March 28 to April 3 in Moscow. The festival is held under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the MoscowSpyGhana

When the new five-auditorium, adults-only 20,000-square-foot VIP section opens at the Cineplex Odeon Queensway theatre complex Jan. 17, moviegoers will have more choices than just what to watch. TheSpec.com

Palm Springs International Film Festival: The 21 Spanish- and Portuguese-language films in this year’s festival reflect a timely renaissance in Latin cinema. Anticipated titles include ‘Heli’ and ‘Anina.’LA Times

Apparently depressed over not getting films for nearly one year, young Telugu actor Uday Kiran committed suicide by hanging himself on Sunday night, police said Monday. The 33-year-old, who acted in 19 films includingthree Tamil moviesHindustan Times

The beleaguered Finnish mega-production Mannerheim has incurred debts of nearly seven million euros, as revealed by the bankrupt’s estate administration. Dozens of creditors await money from Liberty Production, the company set up for the film.Yle Uutiset

Her role as Annie Johnson in the 1959 film Imitation of Life led to an Oscar nomination — just the fifth at that time for a black actor or actress. Moore was 99 when she died on Wednesday. Nation & World News

A number of renowned Hollywood filmmakers including Terence Malick, Darren Aronofsky and Clint Eastwood have signed a petition against the Icelandic government’s proposed 40 per cent cuts on the Icelandic Film Fund.Ice News

Movie producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein have sued Time Warner Inc for at least $75 million over its decision to divide the screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s book “The Hobbit” into three parts.Reuters

A Pakistani court has stopped the screening of foreign films, serials and television shows, especially Indian content, on the country’s TV channels, triggering panic and outrage among exhibitors and viewers.The Hindu

Edouard Molinaro, who received an Oscar nomination for directing the 1978 French film La Cage aux Folles, which was remade in the United States as The Birdcage and as a Broadway musical, died on Saturday in Paris.The New York Times

Japanese film director Takafumi Ota had a problem. He needed studio financing for a film that was harshly critical of the nuclear industry in the aftermath of Fukushima, but no one was interested in funding his project the traditional way. Arab News

With the traditional system for forecasting hits, known as “tracking,” under fire, the film industry is increasingly turning to social media and other online signposts to help figure out what will resonate with audiences.New York Post

The national board of the Directors Guild of America on Saturday voted in favor of a new three-year film and TV contract that includes proposed increases in wages, residuals and significant new pay terms for work in new media.Los Angeles Times

IT WAS to be the swan song of Lord Richard Attenborough’s illustrious directing career that began in 1969 with the satirical musical Oh, What A Lovely War! and which produced such Oscar-winning classics as Young Winston, Gandhi and Cry Freedom.Express

A unit still photographer who has worked on the sets of movies, including “Legally Blonde,” “Meet the Fockers” and “Remember the Titans,” and is a former National Football League kicker, has been named the new Maui County film commissioner.Maui Weekly

Kim Williams, one-time head of the Australian Film Commission and founding chairman of the Film Finance Corporation (now Screen Australia), has compared Australia’s film and television producers to farmers and the motor industry, saying they are overly dependent on subsidies for their survival.Sydney Morning Herald

A new short film, “The Line of Freedom,” hopes to shed light on this largely forgotten crisis. It depicts the story of a Baloch activist who was abducted and tortured and then dumped after being shot.Radio Free Europe

Filmmaker SPIKE LEE believes the success of his recent Kickstarter.com campaign to fun his new movie is all down to good karma, because he has donated large cash amounts to help other directors get projects off the ground.Express

Walt Disney was known to be an inveterate chain smoker, a habit which led to the lung cancer that would eventually kill him. Yet thanks to his own studio’s ban on screen smoking, a new film about the late Hollywood mogul will not depict him lighting up once.The Independent

Temple Run is going to be making a big screen debut trough Warner Bros. and Harry Potter producer David Heyman. The popular free to play game may be recognizable enough to gain a box office draw, but barely has enough to story make a 90 minute feature length film. TechnoBuffalo

In its latest attempt to crack down on piracy, the Motion Picture Association of America is pressuring movie theaters to adopt a ban on mobile phones with cameras and certain kinds of eyeglasses. RT USA

The 5th China Image Film Festival opened here on Tuesday to give the British people an opportunity to watch 20 Chinese new films, including crime movie Silent Witness, romantic comedy Finding Mr. Right and cartoon movie Kuiba II.Xinhua China Weekly

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s upcoming film “Ram-leela” has landed into another controversy. After drawing much ire from the Rajput community over its content, the film is now in trouble over the title.International Business Times

Mayor Renaat Landuyt could well have had Colin Farrell’s inept assassin Ray in mind when he decided that the medieval city of Bruges should be a little more discerning about how it is portrayed on celluloid.Irish Independent

Cinemas in Sweden have begun to issue ratings for films depending on how they portray women: whether there are named female characters, who speak together, and whether they discuss something other than a man.The Telegraph

Myanmar’s opening is good news for almost everyone – except for actors who played villains in domestic film productions who are suddenly out of work, as Western films invade the Southeast Asian nation, along with the bigger and badder bad guys in them.International Business Times

The RTÉ/BBC Northern Ireland film The Disappeared has great impact and is “very disturbing” but it ought to have contained greater reference to the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains, claims the man closely involved in the search for the Disappeared.Irish Times

French film director Luc Besson has slammed paparazzi in Taiwan for interfering with the shooting of his latest film, but denied reports that he considered leaving the island early to underscore his disgust over their actions.Independent.ie

A week ago Ryan Reynolds indicated that the Deadpool movie had recently taken some tiptoes forward. Now, Tim Miller, who is the director attached to the project, has also indicated things are moving forward. Comicbook.com

The flop of action movie White House Down added to earnings woes at Sony in the latest quarter, dragging the entertainment and electronics giant to a 19.3 billion yen (£122 million) loss.Belfast Telegraph

A VAST TV and film studio complex will be a permanent legacy of Scotland’s answer to hit fantasy series Game of Thrones, under plans announced by the owner of the industrial site where filming has just started.The Scotsman

The GI Film Festival is saluting Los Angeles for the second time this Friday and Saturday on the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, a worthy reprise after years of playing the nation’s capital.Long Beach Press Telegram

Actor Ranbir Kapoor will be inaugurating the 18th International Children’s Film Festival, India (ICFFI), popularly known as The Golden Elephant, to be held in Hyderabad from Nov 14.Daily News and Analysis India

If Robert Redford sees the potential for a film festival, it’s probably wise to take note. So that’s exactly what Sheila Johnson did a few years ago, when Redford visited the 340-acre Middleburg, Va., spread where she was planning to build the Salamander Resort.The Washington Post

Hal Needham, a veteran Hollywood stuntman who later embarked on a less risky career as a director of action movies including “Smokey and the Bandit” and “Cannonball Run,” both of which starred his friend Burt Reynolds, died Friday in Los Angeles.Dallas News

Lucasfilm on Thursday said that Michael Arndt would be replaced as the screenwriter of “Star Wars: Episode VII,” which is scheduled to begin filming in the spring, for a planned 2015 release. New York Times

Sony is hoping that providing shareable movie clips and extras like deleted scenes will prompt more people to buy digital movies. At least that’s the intention behind a new initiative it’s calling Vudu Extras+. The Vancouver Sun

Colin Farrell, one of the leads in the new film “Saving Mr. Banks,” to be screened next month at the third annual Napa Valley Film Festival, will be honored as part of a special tribute program.Napa Valley Register

Empathising with film-makers confronted with demands for a ban on their films by “vested groups, fringe elements” as in the case of Vishwaroopam and Madras Cafe in the recent past, the Empowered Committee on film certification has mandated that no State government can order the suspension of a film.The Hindu

William and the Windmill, a documentary that traces the life of a young Malawian William Kamkwamba who teaches himself to build a power-generating windmill from junk parts, successfully rescuing his family from poverty and famine, was presented with the Best Documentary Feature Award at the Flyway Film Festival in Wisconsin, USA on Sunday.Nyasa Times

The film festival filed court papers against Young Woo & Associates, saying the developer reneged on partnership in which the event could utilize space and would secure naming rights to the overhaul taking place on W. 15th St. and 11th Ave. But Tribeca says Young Woo backed out of the deal in order to make more profit from the endeavor.New York Daily News

Don’t expect to see Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow have her own movie before 2016. That’s the word from Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, who told Movies.com that the company was not adding any other features to its current roster for the foreseeable future.The Huffington Post

Dressed in white hazmat coveralls and carrying a dosimeter, documentary film director Robert Stone ventured into the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant’s exclusion zone a year after a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered meltdowns in three reactors.ABC News

The Washington West Film Festival is scheduled to debut a range of independent movies, documentaries and short films this week at Reston Bow Tie Cinemas that attempt to capture the human condition.The Washington Post

A provocative Bollywood biopic opening Friday tells the story of a slain human rights attorney who began a career in the law after turning his back on a life as an insurgent, only to be shot dead in his Mumbai office. 7 News

Comic book legend Stan Lee, the co-creator of world’s most popular superheroes like Spider-Man and Iron Man, Wednesday announced a partnership that will bring to life his first ever Indian superhero, Chakra.DNA

Kumar Pallana, an Indian plate spinner turned Texas yoga instructor turned — in his late 70s and long beyond — sought-after character actor in films by Wes Anderson, Steven Spielberg and others, died on Thursday at his home in Oakland, Calif. He was 94.The New York Times

One of the Victoria Film Festival’s major screening venues has closed its doors for good – leaving festival organizers with less than four months to secure a new location and raise funds for a pricey piece of equipment in time for its 20th anniversary.The Globe and Mail

The Arab Film Festival, which opens Friday at the Harmony Gold Theatre in Los Angeles and continues through Oct. 20, is the largest independent annual showcase of Arab films and filmmakers in the United States.Los Angeles Times

Screen legend Elliott Gould will appear at several fundraising events this weekend for the Olympia Film Society, including a screening of the 1970 Robert Altman film “M.A.S.H.,” in which Gould played Trapper John McIntyr.The News Tribune

Yandex, the search company often referred to as the Google of Russia, is today announcing its latest acquisition: KinoPoisk, an online film database known as “the IMDb of Russia” (after the Amazon-owned company that KinoPoisk recreated in Russia) with some 18.6 million visitors per month.Tech Crunch

Payman Maadi’s award-winning film Snow On Pines is the flagship feature in the Iranian Film Festival Australia (IFFA), but the greatest satisfaction for Maadi came from the struggle to get the film onto screens in Iran.ABC News

The Seattle International Film Festival said it will honor Academy Award-nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor and actress, producer and director Laura Dern with Tribute awards for Outstanding Achievement in Acting at the 40th annual festival, which begins next month.Pudget Sound Business Journal

Rumours abound that the three potential lead actors (Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher) for Star Wars Episode VII are already in the UK and preparing to shoot their scenes, and some reports claim that some of the actors have already started.Metro

Eighty years after Nazi propaganda films were made and given to Hitler as a gift, they are again being screened in Berlin. The audience must attend a lecture and a debate before the screening - a move that some say is patronising.BBC News

That Philippe Petite biopic that Robert Zemeckis has been getting together for Joseph Gordon-Levitt has just added a few more cast members, including Sir Ben Kingsley and James Badge Dale in as-yet-unknown roles.Ain’t It Cool

Award-winning south Indian film director Shyamaprasad, who has excelled simultaneously in Indian and international cinema, is planning to make an Indian movie that will be fully shot in Oman.Times of Oman

After successful showings at the Tribeca, Omaha, and Vail film festivals, Fool’s Day, by Cody Blue Snider, was the audience’s favorite short film and won the audience choice award for best short entry at the Cleveland International Film Festival.Examiner

Director Sally Potter has received this year’s Bradford International Film Award Fellowship. Over the past 30 years, her films have moved between various facets of culture, exploring dance, music, history, gender and performance.Telegraph and Argus

The footage — a little more than 19 minutes — covers the entire process of the cotton cloth making process from bales to the final fabric. The Adams Historical Society holds the film and has had it digitized.The Berkshire Eagle

Oscar-winning British cinematographer Oswald Morris, who worked with some of the great directors, including John Huston and Stanley Kubrick, has died at the age of 98, at his home in Dorset.Western Morning News

The highly anticipated next installment of the “Star Wars” franchise will be set 30 years after “Episode VI: Return of the Jedi,” Walt Disney Co.’s chief executive officer Bob Iger said on Tuesday at the company’s annual shareholders meeting.Reuters

She is negotiating to helm a live-action adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy tale “The Little Mermaid,” the story of a sea creature chafing against her life of looking lovely and swimming aimlessly about.The Los Angeles Times

The Tribeca Film Festival has announced that a documentary short about Muslims-Jew relations produced by Chelsea Clinton will hold its world premiere during the festival at the end of April.The Huffington Post

Studio executives tested an alternate version of Darren Aronofsky’s forthcoming biblical epic Noah that opened with a montage of religious images and ended with a Christian rock song, it has been revealed.The Guardian

Beijing-based film production company Huayi Brothers Media Corp. plans to invest up to $150 million in a new movie company from Jeff Robinov, the former president of Warner Bros. Pictures Group.LA Times

The Delhi High Court ruled that the movie not be released anywhere in India in its censored or uncensored form till May 8. Gulaab Gang was meant to on March 7. The film is about a group of women fighting social injustices in a rural village community.NDTV

Hosted by President Obama, the festival will showcase student-created films about how technology is used in their classrooms and what role technology will play in education in the future.Los Angeles Times

Dr. Bernhard Friz joined forces with Coleen Rajotte, director of the Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival, to create Storytellers — The Pas’ First Film Festival of Aboriginal and Northern Peoples.CBC News Manitoba

It was a coup by independent filmmakers at the Thai film industry’s awards night on Sunday when almost all major prizes went to talents working in the margin, leaving the mainstream heavyweights with just a few consolation trophies.Bangkok Post

One of the world’s most significant gay film festivals is getting a makeover after 26 years, changing its name to reflect the “increasing diversity of the programme and the people who identify with and embrace it”.The Independent

The short, entitled Future News was directed by David Yates. Celebrities in the UK worked together on a short film released today in support of the financial transaction tax. The three minute film is designed to influence negotiations.Forbes

The first glimpse of Angelina Jolie’s new directing project, Unbroken, has surfaced online, taking advantage of the interest in the winter Olympics by highlighting the athletic achievements of its real-life subject.The Sydney Morning Herald

Scripted by noted writer and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award winner C. V. Balakrishnan and directed by Madhu Kaithapuram, winner of India’s National Film Award, the title of the movie is Velli VechathiTimes of Oman

After Wolf of Wall Street, the Kenya Film commission has outlawed a number of films. These are films that are related to the late Sheikh Aboud Rogo contentious Muslim cleric .Anyone found with these movies might spend sometime in the can.Ghafla

In her 110 years, Alice Herz-Sommer has been an accomplished concert pianist and teacher, a wife and mother — and a prisoner in Theresienstadt. Now she is the star of an Oscar-nominated documentary showing her indomitable optimism, cheerfulness and vitality despite all the upheavals and horrors she faced in the 20th century.Jewish Press

Greg Fleet is to star in a low-budget Australian zombie film. Me And My Mates vs The Zombie Apocalypse wrapped filming on Friday in the Australian capital, Canberra, and is now in post-production.The Canberra Times

Oscar-winner Natalie Portman has been accused of mounting a “foreign invasion” by protesters from Israel’s ultra-orthodox community after arriving in Jerusalem to shoot her directorial debut, reports the Times of Israel.The Guardian

A special screening of documentary film titled ‘Gulabi Gang’, directed by Nishtha Jain, will be held for many producers and directors in Mumbai such as Raj Kumar Hirani, Gauri Shinde, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Prasoon Joshi.The Indian Express

Hosted at a foreign embassy in Riyadh on a warm night in early June, the premiere was an understated affair. Local media was not invited to the screening due to fears that early reviews could cause a backlash against the film.Wall Street Journal

While The Wolf of Wall Street is setting records for the outrageous number of ‘F’ bombs it employs, another Best Picture contender has broken a different kind of record. 12 Years A Slave became the first film with nudity approved to distribute in India.Bustle

The film, a fly-on-the-wall look at prescription-drug abuse, focuses on Fred Holmes, a retired pediatrician who willed himself into becoming an expert in treating opiate addiction after discovering many of his teenaged patients were hooked on painkillers.The Globe and Mail

The British film industry paid tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman at the London Critics’ Circle awards last night, with Steve Coogan and Naomie Harris among the stars lining up to celebrate the work of the late Oscar winner.The Guardian

Leading Brazilian film director Eduardo Coutinho was killed Sunday in an attack at his Rio de Janeiro home, local television reported. Initial reports suggested that the 80-year-old Coutinho’s son Daniel, who suffers from mental illness, stabbed his father to death.The Nation

In a first in Bollywood, actor Abhay Deol, 37, and the co-producers of his next film have decided to release their entire film on the social media site, Facebook (on the same day as its India release) However, there’s a catch- only international audiences will get to view the film.Hindustan Times

S.S. Rajamouli’s upcoming film, Baahubali, becomes the highest spender of VFX in Indian cinema, as he will be spending over Rs. 85 crores for the VFX in the film. Also, since Baahubali is a period action drama, it boasts of a never-before-heard budget to create a visual extravaganza.Bollywood Hungama

New virtual reality headset that straps over user’s face will not only allow viewers to watch films anywhere but also allow 3D interaction with movies. The first headsets were premiered for filmmakers at Sundance.Wired

Luhrman’s The Great Gatsby won every award for which it was nominated at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts luncheon in Sydney, including production design, costuming and cinematography.SBS

“The film doesn’t really have a plot,” Joel Coen said of Inside Llewyn Davis. “That concerned us at one point; that’s why we threw the cat in.” Coen and his brother Ethan have learnt one of the truisms of the seventh art - that there are few films that are not improved by the presence of a cat.The Telegraph

The star has shouldered the blame for his latest flick’s poor box office performance saying that he was happy with the product but that it was clearly the hero’s fault if audiences did not flock to theatres.India Today

The District 9 is rumoured to be joining Microsofts upcoming series which will be produced by Stephen Spielberg. Blomkamp had previously said he would never work on Halo again after the first attempt fell through.Scified

Fans of big budget soft core pornography are to be disappointed by the 50 Shades of Grey movie, which producer Michael De Luca has confirmed will ‘obviously’ be less explicit than the book.The Independent

Thousands of fans, actors, directors, producers and others from all walks of life thronged the Annapurna Studios where the body of thespian Akkineni Nageswara Rao was kept to enable people to pay homage.DNA

American cinema chain AMC has branded Google Glass use inappropriate for cinema goers. The audience member was taken out of a screening of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit by Homeland Security and questioned for 3.5 hours.International Business Times

Anger is building on the Chinese mainland after the little-known events of the 1965-66 Indonesian anti-communist purge were revealed by the doc. Despite no plans for official release the film has been seen by thousands of bloggers and even state mouthpiece People’s Daily ran a report on it.South China Morning Post

Russian social network VKontacte is now offering users the opportunity to stream licensed films. In the second half of 2013 the site launched a major effort to legalize its emdia content after a series of scandals.Russia Behind the Headlines

The founders of the new fund have raised millions of dollars to produces film and television they say will work as soft diplomacy. Anupam Sharma, the fund’s overseer, hopes to replicate the appeal of India-centric stories from other countries, like Bend It Like Beckham.SBS

Abigail Disney, grandniece of Walt, has backed up Meryl Streep following the actor’s recent comments about Walt Disney where she referred to him as a “gender bigot” and a member of an anti-Semitic lobbying organisation.The Guardian

The 15th International Indian Film Academy Awards, the Oscars of Bollywood’s yearly $7.8 billion industry, will be presented in the United States for the first time this year, organizers of the event said on Wednesday.Stabroek News

The Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) had ordered that the movie Wolf of Wall Street should not be sold, exhibited or distributed in Kenya. KFCB is the body that has been tasked with film content regulation to ensure they conform to the national values.Standard Digital

Russia’s culture minister Vladimir Medinsky is considering introducing a cap on the number of movies imported to the country each year, saying that “without it, it is impossible to help the Russian film sector.”The Guardian

After analysing 25 years’ worth of data on mainstream cinema, two researchers have discovered that filmmakers that are likely to appeal to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences face the same risk-and-reward structure as lobbyists who contribute to political candidates as elections are near.Zee News

Richard Shepherd, the producer of classic Hollywood movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, has died aged 86 at his home in Los Angeles. Shepherd spent six decades in the film business, producing a run of films including the 1961 feature starring Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard.BBC News

During a break from filming new movie “Cold Comes the Night”, Bryan Cranston put together a contest challenging production assistants to come up with their own scripts. The actor then offered to star in a script of his choosing if there was one he liked.The Huffington Post

The actress is set to star in Drake Doremus’ adaptation of 1984, written by Nathan Parker (Moon). In a recent interview she said that though the story was simple, the film was “overtly ambitious”.Huffington Post

Vimeo has made 13 films, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, available on its on-demand platform. Viewers can purchase the films directly from the site and watch on desktop, TV or smartphone.The Drum

A report by Film L.A. which processes film permits in LA City and County, has blamed a lack of financial incentives for productions increasingly moving to other states. The decline is also blamed for the loss of 4,500 permanent jobs.South California Public Radio

Filmgoers in the United Arab Emirates have been shown a heavily edited version of The Wolf of Wall Street, which left the story “incomprehensible.” Around 45 minutes of Scorcese’s film was removed - predominantly scenes depicting sex and drug-taking- and dialogue was muted to mask profanity.BBC News

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) will launch a crackdown on sexual content and bad language in films, particularly in movies rated 12A, 12 and 15. The BBFC says will give greater weight to the “theme and tone” rather than simply specific scenes and details on screen.The Telegraph

Johnny Depp took a meeting with Marvel to discuss playing Doctor Strange in a Phase Three film likely to be released in 2016. If Depp did decide to play the role, it would impact what’s happening in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, which currently has a fifth installment set for release in roughly the same time frame. The Latino Review

A short film made by a local university lecturer and shot on location in and around Falmouth has been nominated for a Bafta. Created on a budget of just £1000 and shot over three days, the film crew featured photography and animation lecturers as well as students.The Cornishman

The Snowtown director plans to use the Hankley Common dropping zone to film his new film with Michael Fassbender. The WW2 training site has already been used in numerous Bond films, including Die Another Day and Skyfall.Getsurrey.co.uk

Jake Gyllenhaal and Josh Brolin have arrived in Nepal to start filming an adaptation of climbing-Everest bestseller Into Thin Air. Baltasar Kormakur, director of Two Guns, is helming the project.Financial Express

The Oscar-winning star of Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind will attend this Years Jameson Dublin International Film Festival in February. Terry Gilliam will also attend and both men will receive Volta Awards for lifetime achievements.Irish Times

Wells Cathedral in Bath has been attacked for its decision to allow the Bath Film festival to screen The Last Temptation of Christ in its nave. The screening was to accompany a recent screening of The Passion of Joan of Arc in Bath Abbey.Bath Chronicle

The International Festival of Sports Movies Krasnogorski will take place from March 28 to April 3 in Moscow. The festival is held under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the MoscowSpyGhana

When the new five-auditorium, adults-only 20,000-square-foot VIP section opens at the Cineplex Odeon Queensway theatre complex Jan. 17, moviegoers will have more choices than just what to watch. TheSpec.com

Palm Springs International Film Festival: The 21 Spanish- and Portuguese-language films in this year’s festival reflect a timely renaissance in Latin cinema. Anticipated titles include ‘Heli’ and ‘Anina.’LA Times

Apparently depressed over not getting films for nearly one year, young Telugu actor Uday Kiran committed suicide by hanging himself on Sunday night, police said Monday. The 33-year-old, who acted in 19 films includingthree Tamil moviesHindustan Times

The beleaguered Finnish mega-production Mannerheim has incurred debts of nearly seven million euros, as revealed by the bankrupt’s estate administration. Dozens of creditors await money from Liberty Production, the company set up for the film.Yle Uutiset

Her role as Annie Johnson in the 1959 film Imitation of Life led to an Oscar nomination — just the fifth at that time for a black actor or actress. Moore was 99 when she died on Wednesday. Nation & World News

A number of renowned Hollywood filmmakers including Terence Malick, Darren Aronofsky and Clint Eastwood have signed a petition against the Icelandic government’s proposed 40 per cent cuts on the Icelandic Film Fund.Ice News

Movie producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein have sued Time Warner Inc for at least $75 million over its decision to divide the screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s book “The Hobbit” into three parts.Reuters

A Pakistani court has stopped the screening of foreign films, serials and television shows, especially Indian content, on the country’s TV channels, triggering panic and outrage among exhibitors and viewers.The Hindu

Edouard Molinaro, who received an Oscar nomination for directing the 1978 French film La Cage aux Folles, which was remade in the United States as The Birdcage and as a Broadway musical, died on Saturday in Paris.The New York Times

Japanese film director Takafumi Ota had a problem. He needed studio financing for a film that was harshly critical of the nuclear industry in the aftermath of Fukushima, but no one was interested in funding his project the traditional way. Arab News

With the traditional system for forecasting hits, known as “tracking,” under fire, the film industry is increasingly turning to social media and other online signposts to help figure out what will resonate with audiences.New York Post

The national board of the Directors Guild of America on Saturday voted in favor of a new three-year film and TV contract that includes proposed increases in wages, residuals and significant new pay terms for work in new media.Los Angeles Times

IT WAS to be the swan song of Lord Richard Attenborough’s illustrious directing career that began in 1969 with the satirical musical Oh, What A Lovely War! and which produced such Oscar-winning classics as Young Winston, Gandhi and Cry Freedom.Express

A unit still photographer who has worked on the sets of movies, including “Legally Blonde,” “Meet the Fockers” and “Remember the Titans,” and is a former National Football League kicker, has been named the new Maui County film commissioner.Maui Weekly

Kim Williams, one-time head of the Australian Film Commission and founding chairman of the Film Finance Corporation (now Screen Australia), has compared Australia’s film and television producers to farmers and the motor industry, saying they are overly dependent on subsidies for their survival.Sydney Morning Herald

A new short film, “The Line of Freedom,” hopes to shed light on this largely forgotten crisis. It depicts the story of a Baloch activist who was abducted and tortured and then dumped after being shot.Radio Free Europe

Filmmaker SPIKE LEE believes the success of his recent Kickstarter.com campaign to fun his new movie is all down to good karma, because he has donated large cash amounts to help other directors get projects off the ground.Express

Walt Disney was known to be an inveterate chain smoker, a habit which led to the lung cancer that would eventually kill him. Yet thanks to his own studio’s ban on screen smoking, a new film about the late Hollywood mogul will not depict him lighting up once.The Independent

Temple Run is going to be making a big screen debut trough Warner Bros. and Harry Potter producer David Heyman. The popular free to play game may be recognizable enough to gain a box office draw, but barely has enough to story make a 90 minute feature length film. TechnoBuffalo

In its latest attempt to crack down on piracy, the Motion Picture Association of America is pressuring movie theaters to adopt a ban on mobile phones with cameras and certain kinds of eyeglasses. RT USA

The 5th China Image Film Festival opened here on Tuesday to give the British people an opportunity to watch 20 Chinese new films, including crime movie Silent Witness, romantic comedy Finding Mr. Right and cartoon movie Kuiba II.Xinhua China Weekly

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s upcoming film “Ram-leela” has landed into another controversy. After drawing much ire from the Rajput community over its content, the film is now in trouble over the title.International Business Times

Mayor Renaat Landuyt could well have had Colin Farrell’s inept assassin Ray in mind when he decided that the medieval city of Bruges should be a little more discerning about how it is portrayed on celluloid.Irish Independent

Cinemas in Sweden have begun to issue ratings for films depending on how they portray women: whether there are named female characters, who speak together, and whether they discuss something other than a man.The Telegraph

Myanmar’s opening is good news for almost everyone – except for actors who played villains in domestic film productions who are suddenly out of work, as Western films invade the Southeast Asian nation, along with the bigger and badder bad guys in them.International Business Times

The RTÉ/BBC Northern Ireland film The Disappeared has great impact and is “very disturbing” but it ought to have contained greater reference to the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains, claims the man closely involved in the search for the Disappeared.Irish Times

French film director Luc Besson has slammed paparazzi in Taiwan for interfering with the shooting of his latest film, but denied reports that he considered leaving the island early to underscore his disgust over their actions.Independent.ie

A week ago Ryan Reynolds indicated that the Deadpool movie had recently taken some tiptoes forward. Now, Tim Miller, who is the director attached to the project, has also indicated things are moving forward. Comicbook.com

The flop of action movie White House Down added to earnings woes at Sony in the latest quarter, dragging the entertainment and electronics giant to a 19.3 billion yen (£122 million) loss.Belfast Telegraph

A VAST TV and film studio complex will be a permanent legacy of Scotland’s answer to hit fantasy series Game of Thrones, under plans announced by the owner of the industrial site where filming has just started.The Scotsman

The GI Film Festival is saluting Los Angeles for the second time this Friday and Saturday on the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, a worthy reprise after years of playing the nation’s capital.Long Beach Press Telegram

Actor Ranbir Kapoor will be inaugurating the 18th International Children’s Film Festival, India (ICFFI), popularly known as The Golden Elephant, to be held in Hyderabad from Nov 14.Daily News and Analysis India

If Robert Redford sees the potential for a film festival, it’s probably wise to take note. So that’s exactly what Sheila Johnson did a few years ago, when Redford visited the 340-acre Middleburg, Va., spread where she was planning to build the Salamander Resort.The Washington Post

Hal Needham, a veteran Hollywood stuntman who later embarked on a less risky career as a director of action movies including “Smokey and the Bandit” and “Cannonball Run,” both of which starred his friend Burt Reynolds, died Friday in Los Angeles.Dallas News

Lucasfilm on Thursday said that Michael Arndt would be replaced as the screenwriter of “Star Wars: Episode VII,” which is scheduled to begin filming in the spring, for a planned 2015 release. New York Times

Sony is hoping that providing shareable movie clips and extras like deleted scenes will prompt more people to buy digital movies. At least that’s the intention behind a new initiative it’s calling Vudu Extras+. The Vancouver Sun

Colin Farrell, one of the leads in the new film “Saving Mr. Banks,” to be screened next month at the third annual Napa Valley Film Festival, will be honored as part of a special tribute program.Napa Valley Register

Empathising with film-makers confronted with demands for a ban on their films by “vested groups, fringe elements” as in the case of Vishwaroopam and Madras Cafe in the recent past, the Empowered Committee on film certification has mandated that no State government can order the suspension of a film.The Hindu

William and the Windmill, a documentary that traces the life of a young Malawian William Kamkwamba who teaches himself to build a power-generating windmill from junk parts, successfully rescuing his family from poverty and famine, was presented with the Best Documentary Feature Award at the Flyway Film Festival in Wisconsin, USA on Sunday.Nyasa Times

The film festival filed court papers against Young Woo & Associates, saying the developer reneged on partnership in which the event could utilize space and would secure naming rights to the overhaul taking place on W. 15th St. and 11th Ave. But Tribeca says Young Woo backed out of the deal in order to make more profit from the endeavor.New York Daily News

Don’t expect to see Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow have her own movie before 2016. That’s the word from Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, who told Movies.com that the company was not adding any other features to its current roster for the foreseeable future.The Huffington Post

Dressed in white hazmat coveralls and carrying a dosimeter, documentary film director Robert Stone ventured into the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant’s exclusion zone a year after a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered meltdowns in three reactors.ABC News

The Washington West Film Festival is scheduled to debut a range of independent movies, documentaries and short films this week at Reston Bow Tie Cinemas that attempt to capture the human condition.The Washington Post

A provocative Bollywood biopic opening Friday tells the story of a slain human rights attorney who began a career in the law after turning his back on a life as an insurgent, only to be shot dead in his Mumbai office. 7 News

Comic book legend Stan Lee, the co-creator of world’s most popular superheroes like Spider-Man and Iron Man, Wednesday announced a partnership that will bring to life his first ever Indian superhero, Chakra.DNA

Kumar Pallana, an Indian plate spinner turned Texas yoga instructor turned — in his late 70s and long beyond — sought-after character actor in films by Wes Anderson, Steven Spielberg and others, died on Thursday at his home in Oakland, Calif. He was 94.The New York Times

One of the Victoria Film Festival’s major screening venues has closed its doors for good – leaving festival organizers with less than four months to secure a new location and raise funds for a pricey piece of equipment in time for its 20th anniversary.The Globe and Mail

The Arab Film Festival, which opens Friday at the Harmony Gold Theatre in Los Angeles and continues through Oct. 20, is the largest independent annual showcase of Arab films and filmmakers in the United States.Los Angeles Times

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